Lude Generation

Hey folks,

I'd only had my 3rd Lude for 6 days when I had to take evasive action to avoid a Spanish holiday maker on their way back to the airport - the result of which was my Lude running onto a roundabout, up the kerb and into a sign-post...

The insurance company said the car was a right-off and would be scrapped, so I said no, No , NO!

And withdrew the claim. After paying the excess I would have been left with about £150 and increased insurance premiums for the next few years so I decided to do the repairs myself.

After some advice from the good folks here at Lude Generation, I sourced the bits I needed from EBay breakers and have spent the last 4 days rebuilding my Lude. The near side wing needed replacing (T-cut just would not do it!) and thanks to Honda making them bolt-on's this was achieved (after a bit of panel-bashing with my trusted lump-hammer). The headlight, indicator, reflector and washer bottle were all supplied from EBay as were the upper and lower suspension arms. Total cost of parts £260.

One thing I love about these 'old' Honda's is the way they were made 18-odd years ago - all nuts, bolts, ball-joints etc. just came apart rather than rounding off, breaking off or needing to be cut off.

Once it was all back together a trip to my local tyre fitters sorted out the tracking and the slow puncture and now she drives and looks as good as she did when I picked her up a couple of weeks ago. Ok, so the bumper still has a couple of tie-wraps holding the inner wheel arch liner in place, but once I get the vacuum 'can' thing in the post I'll get that sorted, along with filling and repainting the marks & holes on the bumper.

So although I've spent nearly £300, at least I've managed to save a lovely Mk4 Lude from the scrap-heap and I still have her to drive around in!

Here's some before and after photos:

The crash



The damage:



The lower suspension arm - it should be straight, not bent like a banana:



And now, after all my efforts, here she is:





Dobbs.

Dobbs wrote:I've managed to save a lovely Mk4 Lude from the scrap-heap

+ Rep! Well done!!

Well done. Pleased you managed to save the lude, and keep it on the road. Out of interest, how did the cost of repairs compare to what you would have paid in excess?

Well done! Great to see the lude saved, it annoys me when insurance companies want to write off older cars, the damage wasn't that bad.

+rep

well done matey

i had £650 and kept the bag o bum droppings which was already a cat c for a bumper in a previous life when that was hit a year or so ago so i think you had a bad deal there mate.

Excellent, well done for saving her, nice looking lude!

Done the same myself, twice (saved 2 lude's that were insurance write-offs). First one didn't need any new bits, just some dent removal and full respray on one side. The next one was similar damage to yours but worse (new bumper and bonnet on top of chassis straightening and wing, headlight)

Nice job well done mate!
Rep points for saving her

andypont wrote:Well done. Pleased you managed to save the lude, and keep it on the road. Out of interest, how did the cost of repairs compare to what you would have paid in excess?

The excess on my policy was £600 (for a 40-something with 9 years NCD) and they valued the Lude at £750, which would have left me with £150 and increased premiums for the next 5 years

Thanks for all the comments guys - helps to makes it all worth-while

Dobbs wrote: The excess on my policy was £600 (for a 40-something with 9 years NCD)

Yikes!
That's the gamble you take if you go for policies with huge excesses and no ncb protection. Save a little bit of money on the premium, but then can't afford to claim.

No option of claiming off the other party then?